


May It Sleep Insensate

by TheLockedTomb



Category: The Locked Tomb Trilogy | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir
Genre: Body Horror, Canon Compliant, Canon Rewrite, Discord: The People's Tomb (Locked Tomb Trilogy), The People's Tomb Fic Jam: Scream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:08:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26784181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLockedTomb/pseuds/TheLockedTomb
Summary: The nuns leaned slowly toward the corpse with spindly hands outstretched, not crossing beyond the floor's woven spirals of blood wards, and swayed back fluidly together as if cresting an ocean wave while pulling a rope. The Ninth demanded answers, but they did not anticipate the revenant of Commander Wake.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 37





	May It Sleep Insensate

**Author's Note:**

> My submission for The People's Tomb Discord fic jam - week 3 prompt "scream”. Banged out 30 minutes before the deadline, which is some kind of personal record for speed and procrastination.

"We are the Keepers of the Tomb and the Guardians of all that was Lost," Sister Lachrimorta intoned, swirling the blood on the floor with a thin knobby finger, and the surrounding wards shuddered wetly as though blown by wind.

Sister Glaurica lifted her hand, chanting, "We call to thee, oh lost one perpetually drowning," and lowered her hand to point at the crumpled figure before them.

Sister Aisamorta steadily rocked back and forward, the rosary clutched in her hands swinging loosely. "In the name of the Man who became God, the God who became Man, unto whom the mysteries of death were revealed to become the Undying Lord of the Universe..."

The kneeling nuns threw back their heads, eyes rolling to white, and a low crackling noise sounded from their throats.

"Hear us," they droned as one and sounded like many. "All spirits are subject unto Him and his faithful servants! Come forth!"

The cadaver on the floor shuddered. The Ninth sisters on their knees leaned slowly toward the corpse with spindly hands outstretched, not crossing beyond the floor's woven spirals of blood wards, and swayed back fluidly together as if cresting an ocean wave while pulling a rope. The corpse bowed its back and its broken limbs floundered out, twisting and heaving. Its eyes snapped open and were black as the crypts without a torch, and then the blackness bled away from the edges like ink being drawn up by a cloth. The body convulsed again. Its glassy eyes focused and it dragged in a rattling breath that suggested organs impaled with ribs.

The nuns sagged as though sighing, resting a moment. Blood seeped into the patchwork wrinkles on their decrepit faces. It had been a very long time since this was necessary. With so few families left, there were no last will and testaments to demand, no rightful heirs to declare, no final wishes left unspoken.

The revenant flung a disconcertingly tri-folded arm over its chest, rolling its torso to follow that direction. Legs twisted behind like bent wires as the revenant pressed its snapped forearm against the stone floor and heaved its frontside upward. It stared dazedly at the bloody painted triangle carefully containing it, and its face crumpled in bewilderment, accentuating one of its crushed cheekbones.

"Who are you?" Sister Aisamorta began somberly.

The revenant teeteringly swung its head to search around, peering desperately at all the impassive faces in the room. "Gideon!" it called out weakly and then gurgled as blood dribbled out the corners of its mouth. It coughed wretchedly, spattering clotted clumps on the ground.

"Where did you come from?" Sister Glaurica pressed.

The revenant untangled its body limb-by-limb and shambled to its feet. Its film-glazed eyes brimmed up with foggy fluid that leaked over onto its sallow cheeks. Its jaw sagged open in a grotesque mask of anguish. "Gideon!" it shouted accusatorily at the nuns.

"Why are you here?" Sister Lachrimorta insisted.

The revenant flinched as though struck. Slowly, it turned its head back toward the sisters. Its face contorted unnaturally with rage and the candles around the room blazed upward.

"GIDEON!" the revenant roared, its jaw elongating. Darkness seemed to shine off its body, casting long shadows in every direction with blazing ferocity that made the nuns squint as if staring into Dominicus. The revenant flung its arms out wide and the nuns' robes stormily whipped around them.

"Hold, sisters!" Glaurica screeched. "It's slipping!"

Lachrimorta rapidly gestured her hands in symbols at the revenant and Aisamorta determinedly muttered prayers while clacking her rosary beads frantically. The revenant howled until the noise reverberated the room like a clanging bell.

Then the revenant collapsed in a heap. The room returned to regular dimness and was still and calm. The nuns were covered with their own blood and panting.

"How unenlightening," Priamhark Noniusvianus spoke into the quiet.

"Yes. Unfortunate," Pelleamena Novenarius agreed.

The nuns were too haggard to comment. Priamhark's cavalier was paler than usual, namely from donating blood for the wards.

"What would you have us do with the infant?" Crux gruffly asked the Reverand Mother and Father.

"Chip it," Priamhark said.

"And the surname?" Aiglamene added.

Pelleamena exchanged a grim look with her husband.

"Whatever you like. It hardly matters," the Reverend Mother dismissed. "Take it to the nursery."


End file.
